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Immediately after retiring as a player, Crawford became a head coach in the OHL with the Cornwall Royals, whom he had previously played for in the QMJHL. After two less-than-stellar seasons with Cornwall, Crawford moved to the AHL, and in his first season with the St. John's Maple Leafs, he took his team to the 1992 Calder Cup finals, losing to the Adirondack Red Wings. The following season, Crawford was awarded the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL's coach of the year. In 1994–95, Crawford broke into the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques and achieved immediate success. As a result, he won the NHL's Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. Furthermore, he is currently the youngest NHL coach in history to be distinguished with the Jack Adams. The next season, the Nordiques franchise was relocated to Colorado as the Avalanche, and Crawford won his first and only championship thus far as a player or coach in 1996, defeating the Florida Panthers in four games. Crawford would continue to post successful regular season with the Avalanche in the next two seasons, but after an early first-round exit in the 1998 playoffs, Crawford resigned on May 27, 1998. Despite reportedly being offered a one-year contract extension by general manger Pierre Lacroix, Crawford decided to "move on and accept a new challenge." Before his resignation with the Avalanche, Crawford was also the head coach of the 1998 Canadian Olympic hockey team where they finished a disappointing fourth. Many fans questioned his choice of players to take part in the semi-final shootout with the Czech Republic, in which they lost, electing not to use future Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman. After a brief stint as an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada, Crawford replaced Mike Keenan as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks midway through the 1998–99 season. Joining Vancouver in the midst of a rebuilding period for the franchise, Crawford slowly developed the Canucks into a successful regular season team, playing a fast-paced and offensively emphasized style of play. After one-and-a-half seasons, Crawford led Vancouver back to the playoffs, however, was defeated in the first round by his former team, Colorado.

HISTORY

In 2002–03, Vancouver continued to improve under Crawford and posted a franchise record (since surpassed) of 104 points. The following season, they took the Northwest Division title from the Avalanche, who had won the previous nine division titles (inclusive of the Pacific Division prior to division restructuring, and the year before the move to Colorado as the Quebec Nordiques). Despite Vancouver's regular season success, they only managed to win one playoff series during Crawford's tenure and, compounded by the Canucks' failure to make the postseason in 2005–06, Crawford was let go by management on April 25, 2006, and replaced by Alain Vigneault. In six-and-a-half seasons' work with the Canucks, Crawford marked himself as the longest-serving and winningest head coach in franchise history, coaching 529 games and 246 wins. On February 3, 2006, one of his last games in Vancouver, he also became the third-youngest head coach in NHL history to reach 400 wins. At 44 years and 335 days, this mark trails only Scotty Bowman and Glen Sather. Nearly a month after being let go, Crawford was hired by the Los Angeles Kings, a team in a similar situation to that of the Canucks when Crawford first joined them. In his past two seasons with the Kings, he has missed the playoffs both times, marking the 2003–04 postseason as his last playoff appearance. He lasted only two years with the Kings, who thought a change was necessary in the coaching position. On June 10, 2008, Crawford was fired by the Kings, although he had one year remaining on his initial contract. During the 2008–09 season, Crawford did color commentary for Hockey Night in Canada alongside play-by-play Mark Lee. A year after being fired from the Los Angeles Kings, Crawford was hired by the Dallas Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk to replace previous head coach Dave Tippett.

NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks and NHL Mobile name and logo, NHL GameCenter and Unlimited NHL are trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and NHL team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams.